The Destructive Dynamics of the Tycoon Pack
RATAJKOWSKl
This is my first article after my long hiatus from the game and I'm still getting to know the new mechanics. It's very likely that I'll get something wrong or that to some of you the stuff below will not be new information, so please go easy on me in the comments. With that said, please make sure you do say something, I need comments for the mission.
Today I want to discuss the inherent design issues with the Tycoon Pack (TP). As a returning player with insignificant military potential, I immediately gravitated towards the economic module and as such I soon realized the importance of the Tycoon Pack. TP can be bought for 99 Game Tokens, which translates to ~495k CC at current rates. As a refresher, it provides the buyer with 3 benefits (apart from the marginal 20 gold):
1. Provides 150 work tickets.
2. Provides buyer with +20% production in their companies.
3. Allows buyer to receive/exchange for 50g a day instead of 10.
The work tickets can be indirectly converted to CC and as such this benefit is simply an immediate CC discount on the price of the pack. The value of a work ticket should be somewhere between 1300-1600 CC depending on how efficient the company is in which they're used. Therefore the tickets practically give a stealth discount of around 195k - 240k CC.
At this point, the buyer in the most optimal case has purchased 7 days of +20% production for 255k CC. Note that this is a percentage point increase, the 20% is added onto the bonus you get on production instead of it being a 1.2 multiplier on production. For companies operating in 100% bonus regions, the TP production boost will increase the value of work in the buyer's companies by about 10% (increasing the bonus from 200 to 220% ). This necessitates that the buyer already receives about 2.5M CC worth of production from work in their companies on a weekly basis just to break even with the pack! As work without TP bonus is worth around ~1.25k, this means that for TP to yield a net profit the buyer must already be using >2000 workers a week.
The clear immediate consequence of the TP production boost is that employing workers becomes impossible without having it. As managers with TP produce more, they're able to offer higher wages and eventually completely price out non-TP managers. As a result the entire manager module becomes hidden behind a 10 Euro/week or 495k CC/week soft paywall. Hopefully it's clear why this is terribly damaging for the future of the game.
If that was not enough though, there is another less apparent negative consequence. As TP only yields a net profit if the buyer has a large number of workers, it incentivizes the concentration of workers and the development of large business conglomerates (i.e. lots of workers working for the same manager). As managers with small workforces are unable to profitably use TP, they stay away from it which makes them even less competitive (remember, not using TP is signing your death sentence on the job market). What you get is a handful of players with massive workforces, who are also shielded from competition as new entry is pretty much impossible. (A corollary of this is that managers are incentivized to poach workers from others even at a loss if that makes others not be able to profitably buy TP and make them have to quit manager module).
It is also apparent that the current mechanics of TP work counter to eRepublik Labs' financial goals. It seems like a dubious business decision to have an underlying built-in mechanism that ensures only a small number of players can profitably buy your 9.9 Euro booster pack. I recommend that the company reconsiders the way TP works. An easy solution would be lowering the price of the pack and getting rid of the production bonus. The other two benefits should still be appealing for business minded players to purchase without both putting a large part of the game behind a paywall and excluding a large number of players that otherwise would be happy to pay.
Thanks for reading, let me know your thoughts in the comments.
ratajkowski
tldr:
1. TP makes hiring workers without buying it impossible, thereby puts manager module behind a paywall.
2. TP is not profitable for people employing a small workforce and as such it creates an oligopoly of large employers shielded from competition from new enters.
Comments
Nice work! Voted
I realise I completely ignored the WaM aspect of the production boost. The reason for this is that WaM has no bearing on job market dynamics and the existence of WaM makes TP only slightly more accessible.
o7
Nice article.
Agreed. This game is too monetized.
I agree, the Tycoon Pack is a little OP. Not only for the economy but the gold bonus can be extremely strong for the military when spent on during good promos.
Btw, when you play it smart, you can use the 20% extra production for 8 days, not just for 7.
But it's not a 495k cc paywall either, considering the work tickets + Gold are worth at least 190k.
So it's rather a 37.5k cc/day paywall.
*I agree, the Tycoon Pack is a little OP. Not only for the economy but the gold bonus can be extremely strong for the military when spent on EBs/Supply Packs during good promos.
o7
good analysis of the TP
o7 🙂
[removed]
Interesting article. o7
For the admins TP is profitable. There are not that much people playing anymore, with current amount of buyers for sure they have a profit. The downside is that the game loses potential for new players. I assume getting more players, besides bots, isn't there current goal.
I can't read... please someone help me... send gold ...
The Man, who is write only.
lunch
Mahlzeit!
schmaltz xorox
voted
Things don't go easy without TP.
++
Good to read.
Vote
o7
o/
o7
Tycoon is mostly used for getting access to those 50 gold donations/buying. Higher legs are buying cause 10g limit is really low with all CC we gain from battles. Also selling packs for CC is pointless without having tycoon.... The next thing u get is free production for all high ranked players that have some companies, as work tickets are used without taking employees, which in case we use what we produce gives u lower selling on marketplace which brings to lower prices and lower profitabillity for other companies. Also many of us hire employees just because of that bonus, nevermind if it's fully convenient remember we buy it for 50g/day not because of work, but while there is why not use it if we have any company left... I have all 5 house companies, so i produce houses for myself, not influencing market directly but count that i become non buyer like this 🙂 If there wasn't tycoon i'd just use CC to buy from market as cannot turn it to gold, so price would jump... To conclude, this module is not about production at all, it's about gold and fighting. If u want to produce u have to invest allot in companies and have allot of workers, otherwise dissolve everything u don't need and buy MP and start farming lower divisions (considering u can) will bring u more profit than any company.... Or sell pack, buy guns and sell them for events, u will double CC you invested, no company will give u more profit than that if u don't have zillion of companies (which is much bigger investment).
sweet article.
welcome back
Great article!
really interesting, thank you.
I think your title is completely wrong,
"Tycoon pack is necessary"
is what your whole article seems to be implying 🙂
just like real life . the rich people can buy hosues for college professors to get college degrees to get better jobs!
tycoon pack helps this game simulate real life better!
what will happen in game? what will happen in real life?
will people die in game leave and quit out of protest? will the susucide rate go up in real life?
will people keep playign the game in game? will people push foreward in real life?
will people go into the economic module and change politics. will peole go to the strets and fight for more equality irl?
who knows. I like tycoon pack. it makes the game more real!
TP is less desctructive than the other packs.. it makes lowers prices so that it benefits to many people..
MP and BP is more desctructive, d1 players have trouble getting BH, and all players impossible getting SH without BP..